On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 08:01:49AM +0000, Roy Marples wrote:
> Once nvi has vim's visual mode editing so I can trivially move chunks
> text around or run a regex on a specific block easily then I'd say it's
> good enough for everyday administrative tasks.
I'd argue against this feature because it's already in nvi: you can go
to line A, press "m" followed by "a", then go to line B and press "m"
followed by "b" and enter the following ex command:
:'a,'bs/foo/bar/
The step of marking B isn't even required; you can mark point A and then
set your cursor to line B and enter the command
:'a,s/foo/bar/
By leaving the location empty in the range specification, vi will know
you mean the current cursor position.
> I use vim extensively and can live without syntax highlighting and a
> nice status bar telling me what line/col I'm at
The "status bar" is also there in nvi, use :set ruler
> but I just can't work without visual mode. It's just too useful :)
I think it's a reasonably nice convenience function, but not essential,
as everything's there as I described above.
The only thing that vim can do with visual mode that I don't know how
to do with nvi is "rectangular select", but I suppose that's one of those
"fancy features" that shouldn't go into nvi. I don't think it's needed
very often, either.
> On another note - will we ever see a nvi that works with a
> missing/invalid/broken $TERM setting?
Does vim work with missing/broken $TERM? How does it know what terminal
type you're on? Does it make a guess?
A useful addition to nvi that would really work would be to fall back to
ex mode when TERM is not set, with a warning.
Cheers,
Peter
--
http://sjamaan.ath.cx
--
"The process of preparing programs for a digital computer
is especially attractive, not only because it can be economically
and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic
experience much like composing poetry or music."
-- Donald Knuth
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